The major question for this article is to what extent the implementation of the Lisbon strategy contributed to public policy change in Lithuania. The analysis is based on an overall discussion of experience in preparation & implementation of the National Program for Implementation of the Lisbon Strategy 2005-2010. Also, two case studies are conducted in the fields of active labor market policy & R&D policy. The overall conclusion is that Lisbon strategy is still to a large extent a missed opportunity. The article argues that perhaps the most important among the lost opportunities is the fact that the National Lisbon program has not became a catalyst for policy reform. Furthermore, the national Lisbon program has not yet found a well-defined place among other major national strategies in Lithuania. Finally, the program has only partially contributed to the improvement of strategic planning framework in Lithuania & to a better co-ordination of horizontal policies. Adapted from the source document.
In this article we analyze the background & extent of the Europeanness of political & economic elites in the EU member states. Europeanness is defined & operationalized along the lines of emotive, cognitive-evaluative, & projective dimensions. We propose five hypotheses about the inter-relationships of dimensions of elites' Europeanness & their ideologies, macro-contexts of life experiences, cultural & social capital as well as inter-elite cueing processes. In order to test the hypotheses we use the data of interviews of political & economic elites in 17 EU member states collected in the Intune (FP6) project. The largest support is found for the hypothesis concerning the relationship between elites' Europeanness & inter-elite cueing. Considerable support is also found for the hypothesized links between elites' Europeanness & their ideologies & cultural as well as social capital. Adapted from the source document.
This article is devoted to the Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC) as a method of the European Union (EU) governance. First, the article presents the method, its characteristics & the rationale behind its application in the EU. This is followed by an analytical framework, which includes the factors of EU & national level (independent variables), influence mechanisms of the OMC as well as public policy & institutional change (dependent variables). This analytical framework was used for structuring & summarizing the results of the OMC research in Lithuania. The main conclusion of this article is that the OMC is not effective in Lithuania due to its weak mechanisms of influence. Although according to its definition the OMC is attributable to "soft" forms of governance, its inadequate application reduces its effectiveness in Lithuania. These factors constrain the implementation of necessary reforms in Lithuania & reduce its contribution to economic growth & employment of the EU. Adapted from the source document.
Socialiniu tinklu itakos rinkiminiam elgesiui analize remiasi prielaida, kad zmoniu sprendimui del balsavimo svarbi politines informacijos komunikacija daznai vyksta nedidelese, stipriais rysiais besiremianciose grupese, kuriu narius sieja pasitikejimas. 2012 metais atliktos porinkimines Lietuvos gyventoju apklausos duomenys leido atlikti rinkeju socialiniu tinklu charakteristiku itakos balsavimui rinkimuose analize. Sios analizes rezultatai atskleidzia, kad socialiai izoliuoti, su artimais zmonemis apie politika nediskutuojantys, apolitiskiems tinklams priklausantys rinkejai reciau balsuoja rinkimuose nei rinkejai, integruoti i tinklus, kuriu nariai turi tam tikras politines preferencijas, kuriuose rinkejai randa zmoniu, kuriu ziniomis apie politini gyvenima gali pasitiketi. Rinkejai, priklausantys politiskai homogeniskiems tinklams, anksciau priima sprendima, uz kuria partija balsuos rinkimuose, taip pat didele tokiu rinkeju dalis yra lojalus tam tikrai partijai rinkimuose This article is aimed at presenting analysis of relation between characteristics of social networks of people and their participation in the election and voting as well as revealing how social network data complements models explaining electoral behaviour of population. Evidence from the 2012 post-election survey of Lithuanian population confirms many insights of social network scientists about influence of social interaction in the networks on electoral behaviour of people. It was found that the likelihood of participating in the elections increase when people belong to politicised social networks and have knowledgeable political discussants. It was also found that political homogeneity of social networks has a positive effect on an early decision about the vote and stability of voting. Adapted from the source document.
By employing formerly in Lithuanian political science unexploited concept of cognitive schema, the formation of the people's attitudes towards political issues is explained in this article. The first results of the empirical research on the latent structures, forming the Lithuanian residents' thinking on political issues, are presented. Semi structured interviews on two political issues introducing the progressive taxes and abolition of the abortion -- were analyzed and eight schemas, forming the informants' attitudes on these issues, were found. In this article the main components, internal structures and interrelationships among these schemas are presented and the broader implications on the knowledge about Lithuanians political thinking is discussed. Adapted from the source document.
This article is focused on the relation between the political institutional conditions (regime properties) and collective violence. Relying on works of Charles Tilly, two most important properties of regimes (political institutional conditions) that could affect the occurrence and intensity of collective violence are discerned: regime (governmental) capacity and democracy level. Empirical-graphical analysis finds no relation between the democracy level and degree/occurrence of collective violence. However, statistically significant relationship between the governmental capacity (measured as polity fragmentation index) and degree of collective violence is found. Moreover, higher levels of collective violence are observed in the low capacity- undemocratic regimes, but the most successful in terms of containment of collective violence are high-capacity undemocratic regimes (not high capacity-democratic, as formulated in the hypothesis). Adapted from the source document.
In the article, the EU and Russia relations are analyzed as paying specific attention to the conceptual and practical weight provided for the conjunction "and" when EU-Russia relations are interpreted and practically constructed in the West. The answer which is in common use -- these relations are intellectually based and practically shaped according the engagement doctrine -- is known well. However, the common answer does not eliminate the problem why the perspective of the practical application of engagement toward Russia is still under dispute in the West? The article proceeds to revealing the specifics of the Western attitudes in regard to engagement with Russia and their correlation with the cultural-political identities of engagement's participants. The conjunction "and" emphasizing the EU-Russia relations is interpreted in three ways: optimistically, equably and skeptically. The diversity of interpretations is stimulating by the nodus of factors (history, values and pragmatic interests) which is still affects the EU and Russia relations as well as different attitudes toward the perspectives of co-operation in the future. The very important source of the diversity is the difference in disparity of position regarding the geopolitical development of Eurasia. The article ends with the conclusion that the direction of the EU and Russia engagement will be strongly influenced by the reciprocal attempts to define their own cultural-political identities. Adapted from the source document.
In this article by applying the ideas of M. Foucault, E. Said, A. Negri, M. Hardt, L. Wittgenstein, Z. Norkus, N. Statkus, R. Lopata, N. Luhmann and others, the model of the EU imperialism is introduced. By using the theory of family resemblance by L. Wittgenstein and logic of its employment as shown by Z. Norkus in his work on Grand Duchy of Lithuanian as the empire, the conclusion arrives that the EU gravitates from the classical or neo-classical definition of the empire. However, inaccuracies, found by applying Z. Norkus' methodology, are caused more by the form, and not by the content, thus the claim that EU holds the notion of the empire is valid. This allows entitling the EU as the post-modern empire. Adapted from the source document.
The contemporary information & communication technologies (ICT) will not, by themselves, resolve the issues, faced by Lithuanian public administration in designing & implementing its policies. This is the major argument of the article, supported by the available empirical information & various secondary sources. Why the bureaucracy, which is often considered as being slow, inflexible & inertic should suddenly change due to the mere fact of ICT being purchased & installed? The answer is often based on some intuitive logic, which is called in this article the "ideal model of e-government." The first of the assumptions in this model claim that the public sector has the right skills to select the relevant technology. The next assumption is that once the technology is installed, it will be used competently & open-mindedly -- with the right capacities, motivations & leaders available to do that. In turn, if the technology is used competently, one can indeed expect improvements in public policy making & implementation: organizational change, better inter-institutional co-operation, development of e-services, etc. Notably, many ICT projects in the public sector fail & Lithuania is no exception in this respect. The investment does not necessarily lead to a meaningful organizational change, it does not enhance co-operation between institutions & does not improve communication & trust between the citizens & the state. Surely, the e-government is a rather new development, so one should hardly expect that all the visions will be successful outright. However, while at least some of the major problems may be anticipated in advance, the solutions are not always clear-cut. In order to take a full advantage of the ICT potential in the public sector, a clear choice of an actual model of public administration is necessary. Here a number of classic dilemmas may be identified -- regarding the relations between the public & the private sectors, internal control within the organization, sharing of responsibilities between organizations, etc. It is argued in the article that the answers to these questions in Lithuania are clear only in the official strategies & statements. Meanwhile the practice shows, that the relations between the public & the private sector are unbalanced, organizations lack the culture of critically assessing their achievements, institutions are carefully avoiding "interference" from outside into their internal matters & government is far from being conceived as a "service" to the citizens. It is also noted, that the differences between the official rhetoric & the practice may well be explained by the experience of both the soviet period as well as the accession to the EU: the institutions developed the skill of flexible adjustment to the dominant discourse without finding it necessary to change the essence of policy process. All in all, while the ICT do provide opportunities for improvement of public management, in order to take a full advantage of these opportunities it is necessary to resolve some of the classical dilemmas of public administration. In order to do that, some deeper changes of attitudes, values, & culture are necessary both in the public sector as well as in the society at large. Therefore, notwithstanding the expectation of the big change towards modernization of public sector the old saying of "plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose" is applicable for estimating the potential of the ICT to change the public sector. Adapted from the source document.
The purpose of the cultural elite members during soviet period was designated for the implementation of soviet indoctrination and legitimization of the regime. This task provided for those cultural elites not only the authority, symbolic capital and prestige among other societal groups, but also the strict mechanisms of control, censorship and public behavior. Even this model was valid for soviet Lithuania, the analysis of their relationship with the system in the late socialism reveals that local intellectuals and other cultural elite's members who were part of soviet cultural establishment transferred to the multi-edge relationship with the system. By taking the case of soviet writers, several intellectuals circles could be identified and this deployment could be sustained as a reflection of the rest of cultural elite. These groups not maintained constructed different relationship with the system or national ideology, but also experienced the intensive struggle for the power in local cultural establishments. The group of ideologists gradually lost their influence to the group of conservatist, who in the 70-80 occupied main chairs in cultural institutions and who were more enthusiastic towards ethnic issues, but being a part of cultural nomenclatura they also found consensus with local party apparatchiks. Another part of cultural nomenclatura -- ideologists could not also gained the public recognition as conservatists or the famous intellectuals from local intelligentsia circles (moderate writers), who have increased their authority for their talent and deep attachment to local and ethnic issues. Adapted from the source document.
The paper seeks to explain the differences as to how successfully the three Baltic countries managed the economic crisis between 2008 and the first half of 2010. More specifically, it analyzes investors' confidence, Estonia being the most successful country in this regard, Latvia the least (the only country that applied for aid from the International Monetary Fund), while Lithuania staying in between. The paper aims to take into account the differences (and similarities) between the Baltic countries as well as emphasize the importance of political-institutional factors in explaining investors' confidence. The importance of investors' confidence as is discussed and different ways of measuring it are reviewed. Moreover, the relevance of political-institutional factors in explaining investors' confidence is established from the theoretical point of view. Based on existing literature, a number of explanatory factors are distinguished, namely electoral processes, non-electoral pressures on government, government stability as well as the quality of informal institutions. The paper argues that Latvia was indeed in a significantly worse situation in terms of economic pre-crisis vulnerabilities than Lithuania and Estonia, both of which had certain, albeit different, economic advantages. The main difference between Lithuania and Estonia emerges comparing political-institutional, rather than purely economic, factors: Estonia was better placed in terms of electoral cycles, the extent of non-electoral pressures, and -- most importantly -- better institutions (governance quality, corruption level, trust in political institutions). Both Latvia and Lithuania found themselves in a significantly worse situation regarding political-institutional factors. Adapted from the source document.
Siame straipsnyje siekiama aprasyti ir paaiskinti esminius agenturu vadovu politizacijos, agenturu skaiciaus ir ju valdymo pokycius, taip pat nustatyti, koks buvo ES poveikis tiems dalykams. Straipsnis pagristas teoriniu europeizacijos ir viesosios politikos poziuriu sinteze, taip pat turimos informacijos ir statistiniu duomenu analize. Nors ES reiksmingai prisidejo prie nauju agenturu isteigimo, jos poveikis siu agenturu islikimui issipletus ES buvo kur kas mazesnis. ES dare itaka agenturu vadovu politizacijos mazejimui per specifinius acquis reikalavimus, o ne politines narystes ES salygas. Tyrimo rezultatai rodo diferencijuota ES poveiki: europeizuotu agenturu valdymas po truputi darosi profesionalesnis, palyginti su neeuropeizuotomis agenturomis The paper compares the actual patterns of agencification and depoliticisation in Lithuania and explains the extent to which the EU contributed to these changes. Based on the transformational approach and theories of public policy process, our framework for analysis links external factors (including the EU's influence), internal factors and our dependent variables (changes in public administration and the impact of the EU). Our research employs (descriptive and inferential) statistical analysis of data on the organisational changes of Lithuanian agencies and political participation of their managers. Furthermore, it follows a longitudinal approach to observe 'net changes' by mapping agencification and politicisation throughout the period 1990-2012. The paper found that the EU made a significant contribution to the establishment of new agencies driven by the exigencies of EU accession, but its impact on the survival of Europeanised agencies was much smaller after enlargement. Overall, the results of our research confirm the stronger and more enduring impact of specific acquis rules in the EU policy domains compared to the much weaker influence of the EU's political conditionality. Furthermore, it points to the importance of interactions between domestic actors that realise particular beliefs and pursue certain strategies to understanding institutional and policy changes at domestic level. Adapted from the source document.
